Jess Locke to release ‘Universe’ in October

Jess Locke has announced her new album ‘Universe‘ will be released on Friday 20th October via Pool House Records / Remote Control Records.

To celebrate, the title track ‘Universe‘ has been shared with a music video that can be seen below.

“The song is about trying to connect with reality, with the physical environment and with people, literally and emotionally… In order to have some kind of relationship with the world, we have to remain separate from it. Sometimes that’s a lonely feeling, but the flip side of that idea is that by truly connecting with something it would be destroyed in the process. So some of the violent sounding lyrics are actually a kind of metaphor about that – this conflicting desire to be whole entities while wanting to connect with other people to the point of our own obliteration.“

The video was made by Marnie Vaughn (Bare Pictures) and Mim Montgomery at Monster House, an artist run studio space in Marrickville. Half stop motion animation and half video, it shows Jess singing to the viewer through an old window as its panes are gradually covered by Mim’s artwork.

WATCH

Indeed, ‘Universe‘ and previously released single ‘Better/Bitter‘ perfectly encapsulate Jess’ ability to match dreamy guitar pop with a lyricism cut with stark commentary. It’s a sound of unabashed candidness that has developed through the long time Jess has performed in unconventional spaces: water parks, cemeteries, roundabouts, bookshops and back porches. So too has the new album become a summation of years of writing:

“I feel like all of my recordings have been me trying to catch up with myself…document my songs so I can start fresh and write new ones. But I never seem to fully catch up.“

Nonetheless, ‘Universe‘ represents for Jess Locke a step forward, and it’s our turn to meet her there. With a few years playing and then recording with her full band under her belt, ‘Universe‘ emerged consisting of both brand new and older previously released home-recordings, now re-written. It was a process that pushed Jess musically further than her previous releases:

“the album was very much about exploring the sound of things, and capturing an atmosphere, more than any particular concepts. There are definitely themes that pop up, but really, the ideas are quite broad, maybe that’s why I decided to call it ‘Universe’…“

Having toured in support of Paul Dempsey, Tigers Jaw, Into It. Over It. and Julia Jacklin, Jess Locke has already won crowds over with her live shows. More recently, Jess and her band shared the stage with The Smith Street Band on their national tour. Now label-mates under Pool House Records, it’s a stage being shared in more ways than one, with ‘Universe‘ to take to it soon.

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